The Potential for Solar Activity in 2025.

[vulcanlogician]

@Polymath257 or any other science buffs:

As most of you probably know, we are at risk of experiencing another Carrington Event in 2025. This has the potential to knock out the power grid for weeks... perhaps even months. This would be catastrophic, as most of us rely on electric power for our basic needs.

I'm not paranoid about it or anything. I'm sure we have infrastructure to handle it. Plus that, we have plenty of canned goods up here in the hills. At least as me and my family are concerned, we'll make it through fine.

But I was wondering... my sister has a solar generator. Would she be advised to keep it covered under a sheet of lead foil to protect it from a solar event and perhaps get some use out of it while the power is failing? Or would it stop working too if she ever uncovered it from under the lead after the solar event begins?

Would lead foil even be sufficient to protect the device to begin with?

Weird question, I know. But that's why I'm asking folks here. It ain't the sort of thing you can google.

 

[Heyo]

@Polymath or any other science buffs:

As most of you probably know, we are at risk of experiencing another Carrington Event in 2025. This has the potential to knock out the power grid for weeks... perhaps even months. This would be catastrophic, as most of us rely on electric power for our basic needs.

I'm not paranoid about it or anything. I'm sure we have infrastructure to handle it. Plus that, we have plenty of canned goods up here in the hills. At least as me and my family are concerned, we'll make it through fine.

But I was wondering... my sister has a solar generator. Would she be advised to keep it covered under a sheet of lead foil to protect it from a solar event and perhaps get some use out of it while the power is failing? Or would it stop working too if she ever uncovered it from under the lead after the solar event begins?

Would lead foil even be sufficient to protect the device to begin with?

Weird question, I know. But that's why I'm asking folks here. It ain't the sort of thing you can google.

1. It's basically an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) that is causing the damage, not hard radiation. So lead is not required.
2. The damage is caused by a potential difference in a circuit. The difference is bigger, the greater the circuit is. The grid is in danger because it is huge. If your sister has an island solution (not connected to the grid), her power generator will probably be fine.

 

[vulcanlogician]

1. It's basically an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) that is causing the damage, not hard radiation. So lead is not required.
2. The damage is caused by a potential difference in a circuit. The difference is bigger, the greater the circuit is. The grid is in danger because it is huge. If your sister has an island solution (not connected to the grid), her power generator will probably be fine.

Thanks man. That clears things up a lot.

But I heard that cars and other things will be unable to run. Was I misinformed? It's quite possible. I'm getting most of my info from online articles and YouTube videos. Not scientific journals.

 

[Heyo]

Thanks man. That clears things up a lot.

But I heard that cars and other things will be unable to run. Was I misinformed? It's quite possible. I'm getting most of my info from online articles and YouTube videos. Not scientific journals.

Cars should be safe, as they are protected by a Faraday cage. It would take something magnitudes stronger than the Carrington event to fry the electric in a car. Modern cars may be a bit more vulnerable as the electronics is sensitive to minimal charges.

 

[vulcanlogician]

Cars should be safe, as they are protected by a Faraday cage. It would take something magnitudes stronger than the Carrington event to fry the electric in a car. Modern cars may be a bit more vulnerable as the electronics is sensitive to minimal charges.

Well, hell then. We'll be okay. Food, medicine, and other goods will be able to get from point A to point B. But, especially since it won't affect solar generators, I might go get one of them and get some time in with my Playstation 2 when the lights are out.

Hell, it might even do the world some good to be unable to get on the internet for two weeks, economic difficulties notwithstanding.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Thanks man. That clears things up a lot.

But I heard that cars and other things will be unable to run. Was I misinformed? It's quite possible. I'm getting most of my info from online articles and YouTube videos. Not scientific journals.

I have not looked into these for years. Yes, there is a chance of a solar EMP again and reading about the event is rather frightening. It would definitely mess up the power grid if such an event happened.

A Perfect Solar Superstorm: The 1859 Carrington Event | HISTORY

In 1859 a massive solar flare spewed electrified gas and subatomic particles toward Earth, wreaking havoc on telegraph networks.

www.history.com

Carrington Event - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The navy is very concerned about EMP's from nuclear events. They do not seem to be as concerned about EMP's from the Sun. A nuclear EMP could wipe out almost all electronics. That means that unless you had a vintage car you are not going anywhere in it. The rate of change of magnetic field is what generates electricity that fries components. If you read the Wiki article solar EMP's are very slow, with the rate of change being measure in nano teslas per minute. A nuclear EMP can destroy small electronics because it is a much stronger EMP for very very sort time. One single spike of activity rather than in the Carrington event where telegraphs were disconnected from their batteries and they were still able to hold conversations for around two hours with no power at all. I would not worry about a solar EMP for your solar cells. A nuclear one on the other hand could do something. Telegraph wires were many miles long and that makes them susceptible to long but slower changes. The same could and has happened to power grids.. Your car and other electronics are in a rather small area. They are vulnerable to very sharp single zaps.

There is no much that we can do to protect ourselves from nuclear armageddon and you need not worry personally about a solar one.

The one thing that you might do, and there would be warning of this, is to somehow make sure that you were separated from the gird if such a storm struck..

 

[Subduction Zone]

Cars should be safe, as they are protected by a Faraday cage. It would take something magnitudes stronger than the Carrington event to fry the electric in a car. Modern cars may be a bit more vulnerable as the electronics is sensitive to minimal charges.

As I just posted, the Carrington event was quite a few orders of magnitude smaller than a nuclear EMP. A long slow event will only effect a massively long structure. It is as if the whole line is going through a giant generator. Over a few feet the voltage surge would be almost zero. But over hundreds of miles it adds up. The changes of magnetic field were measured in testlas per minute. Where a nuclear EMP pulse is only 5 nanoseconds long. It can affect the smallest of electronics as a result.